My Brain, Emotions and Me (BE ME!)
What is BE ME?
BE ME! is an experimental branch of the research programme Regulating Emotions – Strengthening Adolescent Resilience (RE-STAR).
Our aim is to use experimental methods to explore the impact of school environments on the emotional responses of young people (with, or without neurodivergence like autism and/or ADHD). We are especially interested in the brain mechanisms that underlie these emotional responses.
The primary aim of the study is to investigate the brain function markers of emotional responding as measured by electroencephalogram (EEG).
We hope our findings will contribute to the development of new ways to reduce the number and impact of upsetting events at school, improving the wellbeing of young people.
Participatory Research
Traditionally, experimental studies using EEG include young people only as research participants. We would like to go a step further and include young people in the planning and design of the project. Therefore, our studies have received input from members of our Youth Researcher Panel (Y-RP). One study has been designed by Y-RP members in collaboration with our researchers and received additional funding from the Participatory Research seed funding award from King’s College London. This study will be co-conducted as part of our piloting phase. One of our Youth Researchers, Maciej Matejko, has written a blog reflecting on the experience. This poster describes the process of planning the research.
Interested in Participating?
Current Opportunity
The BE-ME study will run a new set of research from January 2025 onwards. If you are interested in finding out more, email us at re-starinfo@kcl.ac.uk.
Past Research Activity
Our pilot study was open to all young people aged 11-16 years who are attending mainstream secondary school, including those with a diagnosis of autism and/or ADHD and those without. The study consisted of two stages (information about the study is still available below). Overall, 123 young people took part in our Stage 1 study, which was aimed at developing standardised stimuli representing supportive and non-supportive school contexts. Furthermore 46 young people took part in the Stage 2 EEG study looking at brain responses of young people to those school contexts. We thank all our participants for their generous contribution to the study.
Information sheets from the pilot study:
Stage 1 pilot:
- Information for Parents
- Information for Young People (over 16)
- Information for Young People (under 16)
Stage 2 pilot:
Stages of BE ME!
Meet the Team!
Our researchers:
Dr Steve Lukito, KCL
Mx Eloise Funnell, KCL
Our Be Me! project leads:
Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke, KCL
The chief investigator for RE-STAR project is Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke and Dr Susie Chandler is our RE-STAR project manager. Dr Sylvan Baker is our Y-RP (Youth Researcher Panel) lead on RE-STAR, Doug Nightingale is our administrator and Professor Daniel Stahl is our statistician.
More about RE-STAR
BE-ME! is part of a wider project called RE-STAR (Regulating Emotions - Strengthening Adolescent Resilience). To find out more, watch this video from our Principal Investigator, Prof Edmund Sonuga-Barke:
News & Events
Podcasts
- We are working with Lucinda Powell to document RE-STAR through a series of episodes on her podcast, Psychology in the Classroom. Click here to listen to listen to all of the RE-STAR episodes so far!
- Edmund was a guest on 'Extraordinary Brains Podcast', in which he spoke about his own experiences growing up with ADHD. Listen to the episode here
- Edmund was also a guest on BBC R3's Arts & Ideas Podcast. Listen to the episode here
Principal Investigator
Professor of Developmental Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience
Affiliations
Contact us
If you have any questions about BE ME! or RE-STAR, please email re-starinfo@kcl.ac.uk